Customer Reviews

Disinformation

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So I'm standin' there chainsawin' up this big ole maple that come down in the recent storms, miserable work, even fer a robust old soul like me. And on the radio comes this song, ``Sick Jones,'' by this band, Tin Huey, the likes of which I've never heard. Dropped my pullsaw and ran straight out to the record store, where I hadda wait six weeks while they ordered it up from some warehouse somewheres. Anyhoo: Having read some now, I realize it's kinda a cliche to say Tin Huey is hard to compare to anything, but I'd say this is the greatest marriage of 1940s country yodel and Slovenian post-disco since founding member Harvey Gold's pre-Huey band the Teabaggers. (They used to do a "War Pigs"/"Deliverance" medley, if you can believe it.) Anyhoo: This is transcendant music and take it from me it'll stop your chainsawin' right now and I mean right now.

I watched the movie a few years back and I've never forgotten the music. Truffaut couldn't have found a better score to underlie the intrigue and mystery. Songs like 'Wise Up' and 'Living With Strangers' still evoke the mood of conspiracy that made the movie and it's score unforgettable. Tin Huey is a band of young upper-class Bulgarian art students who mix an eclectic range of influences into a humorous pastiche of American Gothic Rock'n'Roll. Paying homage to their homeland, the Hueys append 'The Tin Huey Story' with the ghost-like singing their parents grew up with, after demonstrating that things will never be that simple any more. Their name comes from the description, in a Sophia newspaper, of a UFO encounter in a remote part of their country. The boys found profound amusement that the farmer who sighted the craft could think of no more lustrous metal than 'tin'. The songs 'Reliable Sources' and 'Seeing' are based on this story. Nothing about Western culture has escaped their notice, even hinting that the American obsession with Mayberry hides a deeper and more sinister meaning in 'Otis Says No' and 'Closet Bears'. And yet, they display a touching romantic side, as well. 'Lovely Little Thing' has always made me think of the Beach Boys meeting Leonard Cohen at the 7-11 just in time for the new doughnuts. Although I rated this disc with five stars, it deserves at least TEN. Buy it, it will 'Blow YOU Away'!

I found this little gem in a local thrift store, not knowing that these art-school lifers had managed to cobble together a follow up to the before-its-time "Contents Dislodged During Shipment", released before I was in high school!! I expected some thinly worn imitations of these Devo-bretherens' quirky, jazz-tinged pre-80's glory, and was in for a shock!

I tossed this in while I planned to do dishes or something, and soon found myself drawn into the room ("hey! This is a great record!!") reading the cover and wondering about these guys. Great vocal harmonies and layered tracks, fabulous interplay of instruments, and a panache of humor that doesn't obscure the musical integrity. The high quality and lack of a definitive categorizable sound makes this task difficult (just look at the range of adjectives in the other reviews!) but it stands as the perfect example of what it really is - a 'band' of guys who grew apart geographically, never really 'broke up', and worked/sat on these songs for as long as 20 years!! The 80's quirkiness is here "Otis Says No" and also a smooth 70's progressive/arty feel not unlike Todd Rundgren would be sounding had success escaped him. A dreamy quality pervades many of my favorite tracks, particularly "Reliable Sources" - the most accurate aural description of an extraterrestrial visit since Sonic Youth's "Disappearer". Evocative and seamless, "disinformation" plays like a fine film, sounding more modern (or even post-modern) than dated.

I've been adrift on this wonderful ride for a month now (I think I've played it 50 times) and don't know if I'll ever tire of it. Essential, if you love good quality, imaginative, and well-played music.

For somebody to take beat-up, rusty old four-track and eight-track tapes and build an album like this is phenomenal. You can call this a Tin Huey album if you want, but that's like saying that Pet Sounds is a Beach Boy album. If Mondl is free, I have some old cassettes I'd like him to work on.

Where to start? After reading their interview in Scientific American I was interested enough to search out some of their albums. I wasn't disappointed! ~ It's been a very bumpy road for the Hueys, founded by members of the Magic Band and Gong. Record executives seem to like more commercial enterprises and so each of their six albums is on a different label. Let's hope that their latest label will give them the respect (and promotion) they deserve. ~ If you saw them last month on David Letterman, you were either confused (as Dave was) or completely flabbergasted (as I was). I've never heard a band with a more phenomenal mastery of the audio medium. ~ The songs on this album range from the sublime "Almost Transparent Blue" (a sort of English Traditional Reggae) and the Brazilian Techno "Sick Jones", to the ridiculous Gangsta' Polka "Cheap Mechanics" and the Chinese Hip Hop "Wise Up". ~ Along the way they make short stops at Country Western Disco with "Seeing" (an hilarious send-up of line dancing hicks) and New Age Blues with "Living With Strangers". ~ This is, by far, their best record and I would recommend it to anyone who is even slightly interested in hearing more from their speakers than the same tired old music of the '90s. ~ And if you get a chance to catch them on tour this winter, do not hesitate!

See, back in Akron, Ohio (which issues passports that look Bulgarian) there's this water. Just ask these guys. They know about the water. They have day jobs maintaining water security. (and do they know their D-chords...but that's another story). Anyway...oh yeah...the water. Who may drink from the crooked river, down by the waterline, brothers and sisters? Why those willing to take this aural trek. Accept no imitations! Insist on original Norka Spring Elixer! Huey tested, Froggy approved. Try some today, and you'll be saying, "Cornfields, Heavy Industry, and Fred...cornfields, heavy industry and fred...cornfields, heavy industry and fred..."

Just received and advanced copy of "disinformation" on Future Fossil from Scott Shepard at Time Traveller in Cuyahoga Falls..he's waiting for more copies...so what's the scoop with this..I know some of the tracks are the singles en such from the "Clone" daze...Are all the other tracks "recent" recordings? I've been waiting 15 years for something other than "I'm a Believer" to be released on CD...What's the status with "Contents Dislodged"? Will it ever be released on CD?

"Disinformation" is excellent...the thing that amazes me is that even today, 20 years later, the music fits perfectly into what is the 90's "alternative" (and I use the term somewhat lightly- alternative is to me..Garbage,Luna, Flaming Lips,ect)...the music doesn't at all sound "dated" but more "immediate" Great job in compiling this fellas...the sound quality of the mix is first rate. Just keep me informed

I saw them at the Lilith Fair when they first came out and I really liked them. I'm glad their record is finally out. It's great.

This is really a pretty remarkable album for a bunch of kids from Oklahoma. Breaking with their traditional country/western roots, they take flight in directions that could spell the end of Rock and Roll, as we know it. Even more remarkable is the fact that though their influences are many and varied, they never bow to the gods of the mediocre. Consistently fresh and exciting, innovative and original. A real treat. Five Stars!

When I here muzic like this I just feel so wonderful.I remember my younger days as a young lad in the Liverpool of the mid-west,listening to the sounds of such angles lik Iggy and the Stooges,T-Rex, Roxy Music, Talking Heads...MOVE OVER THE BOYS ARE BACK...WELCOME HOME I HAVE MISSED YOU DONT STAY AWAY SO LONG...THANK-YOU